Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a prostate disorder that is one of the most common medical problems experienced by men over 50 years old. Urinary tract obstruction due to prostatic hyperplasia has been recognized since the earliest days of medicine. Hyperplastic enlargement of the prostate gland often leads to compression of the urethra, resulting in obstruction of the urinary tract and the subsequent development of symptoms including frequent urination, decrease in urinary flow, nocturia, pain, discomfort, and dribbling.
One common surgical procedure used for treating BPH is transurethral needle ablation (TUNA). The TUNA technique involves transurethral delivery of an electrically conductive ablation needle to the prostate site. The electrically conductive ablation needle penetrates the prostate gland in a direction generally perpendicular to the urethral wall, and delivers electrical current to ablate prostate tissue. The electrical current heats tissue surrounding the ablation needle tip to destroy prostate cells, and thereby create a lesion within the prostate gland. The destroyed cells may be absorbed by the body, infiltrated with scar tissue or become non-functional.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,300 to McGaffigan discloses a transurethral ablation device that delivers a topically applied anesthetic agent gel to a urethral wall. U.S. Published patent application No. 2002/0183740 to Edwards et al. discloses a transurethral ablation device to ablate prostate tissue via electrically conductive needles. U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,702 to Lundquist et al. describes another transurethral ablation needle device. U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,591 describes instruments for localized delivery of fluids to a portion of body tissue, including the prostate. U.S. Pat. No. 6,537,272 to Christopherson et al. describes creation of a virtual electrode by delivery of a conductive fluid to a tissue site. U.S. Pat. No. 6,365,164 to Schmidt and U.S. Patent publication 2002/0025327 disclose the use of neurotoxin therapy for treatment of urologic and related disorders.
Sexual dysfunction is another common problem experienced by older men. Conventionally, sexual dysfunction is often thought to be influenced by the sacral nerves. For this reason, techniques involving neurostimulation to treat sexual dysfunction have been developed, for example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,840 to Krakovsky et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,169,924 to Meloy. The Krakovsky patent describes stimulation of the pelvic splanchnic nerve to achieve erection, and stimulation of the pelvic plexus nerves to achieve emission. The Meloy patent describes stimulation of the spinal cord to achieve orgasm. U.S. Published Patent Application No. 20010025192 to Gerber describes implantable leads for sacral nerve electrical stimulation. U.S. Published Patent Application No. 20020055761 to Mann et al. describes delivery of electrical stimulation to treat sexual dysfunction. U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,005 to Lue et al. describes a method and pacemaker for stimulating penile erection.
Table 1 below lists various documents that disclose transurethral ablation techniques for prostate treatment, techniques for neurotoxin delivery to treat urologic disorders, and various techniques for providing neurostimulation to treat sexual dysfunction.
TABLE 1Patent NumberInventorsTitle2002/0183740EdwardsMedical probe device and methodet al.  6,551,300McGaffiganDevice and method fordelivery of topicallyapplied local anestheticto wall forming apassage in tissue  6,241,702LundquistRadio frequencyet al.ablation device for treatmentof the prostate  6,231,591DesaiMethod of localized fluid therapy  6,537,272ChristophersonApparatus and method for creating,et al.maintaining, and controllinga virtual electrodeused for the ablation of tissue  6,365,164SchmidtUse of neurotoxin therapyfor treatment ofurologic and related disorders2002/0025327SchmidtUse of neurotoxin therapyfor treatment ofurologic and related disorders  5,454,840KrakovskyPotency Packageet al.  6,169,924MeloySpinal Cord Stimulation20010025192Gerber et al.Single and multi-polarimplantable lead forsacral nerve electrical stimulation20020055761Mann et al.Implantable stimulatorsystems and methodsfor treatment of incontinence and pain  4,585,005Lue et alMethod and pacemakerfor stimulating penileerection
All documents listed in Table 1 above are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their respective entireties. As those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate readily upon reading the Summary of the Invention, Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments and Claims set forth below, some of the devices and methods disclosed in the patents of Table 1 may be modified advantageously in order to exploit techniques of the present invention.